Apparatus for branding articles



Aug. 15, 1933.

Y W. E. HUMPHREY APPARATUS FOR BRANDING ARTICLES Filed April 27, 1932 5Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR wmwo. Mi /7M I Aug. 15, 1933. w HUMPHiQEY1,922,852

APPARATUS FOR BRANDING ARTICLES Filed April 27, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 3w. E. HUMPHREY 1,922,852

APPARATUS FOR BRANDING ARTICLES Filed April 27, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR Patented Aug. 15, 1933 UNITED STATES APPARATUS roa BRANDINGARTICLES Walter E. Humphrey, Jeannette, Pa., assignor to PennsylvaniaRubber Company, a Corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 27,1932. Serial No. 607,795

5 Claims. (01. 101-44) This invention relates to improvements inapparatus for branding articles, in preparing them for the market; itordinarily will be associated (though not necessarily associated) withthe 5 packaging of the articles, and it flnds practical application inthe branding of tennis balls. Tennis balls are thin-walled spheres,formed essentially of rubber, and filled with air or other 'gas undersomewhat elevated pressure. Because the materials are, some of them,chemically unstable, and because the walls of the balls are notordinarily perfectly impenetrable, it has been 'found advantageous topack tennis balls in hermetically sealed containers, within which andexternally of the balls a pressure is established, of such magnitude asto prevent leakage of gas from within the balls outwardly through theirwalls. Tennis balls commonly are used in sets of three, and-it isdesirable to can them in sets of three. The cans conveniently areelongate cylinders, of diameter suflicient to receive the balls withsnug fit, and of length approximately three times the diameter.Apparatus for packing tennis balls in cans is shown and described inLetters Patent my 14, 1930, on the application of Lee R. Hurlburt.

The present invention, although developed and used in association withpacking apparatus for tennis balls having the characteristics shown anddescribed in the said Letters Patent, has primarily to do, not with thepackaging itself, but with the marking of the balls, as the last step inpreparing them for packaging.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. I is a View in side elevation of abranding machine for tennis balls, in which the present invention isembodied; Fig. E is a .view in cross-section, on the plane indicated atII--II, Fig. I; Fig. III is a view in horizontal section, on the planeindicated at IIII]I, Fig. I, and illustrating a detail; Fig. IV is afragmentary view in plan from above, of a portion of the apparatus withits burden of tennis balls, and illustrating a feature of the invention,and, associated with this is a large-scale diagram, which will serve toindicate more clearly this feature and its utility; Fig. V is afragmentary view partially in side elevation (and to that extentcorresponding to Fig. I) and partially in vertical section, andillustrating details of the branding instrumentalities and theiroperation; Figs. VI and VII are views to larger scale, illustrating inside and in end elevation, and with greater particularity, a detail ofthe general showing of Fig. I.

An endless conveyor 1, equipped with a succesof the United States No.1,743,780, granted Janusion of transversely placed and open-endedtroughs 2 (in which the balls are set in groups of three-cf. Fig. II)advances from right to left, Fig. I, in an upper, horizontal,burden-sustaining reach. The advance of the conveyor is inter mittent,with pauses between successive, step-bystep, advances. Toward theleft-hand end of this, its upper, burden-sustaining reach,instrumentalities are associated with conveyor 1 for pushing from eachtrough 2 in turn (conveyor 1 5 being at pause) and into a waiting can b(which has in simultaneity advanced to receiving position) its intendedcharge of three tennis balls a, and for driving the filled can fromfilling position, to make way for the next ensuing can. With theseinstrumentalities' are coordinated means for feeding empty cans one byone to filling position.

In Fig. I a motor 3 is indicated, with driving connections to conveyor1, and in the line of con-- 5 nections is included a star-gear 4, foraffording the desired intermittent advance of the conveyor. The samemotor imparts continuous ro- 1 tation to shaft 5 and (through star-gear4) intermittent rotation to shaft 6; from shaft 5 an endless chain '1equipped with a push-finger 8 is driven; and from shaft 6 a feedconveyor for cans b is driven. Such an assembly and its coordinatedoperation are described in the Hurlburt patent, named above; andthe-assembly consti- 5 tutes the situation in which the presentinvention is placed, the mechanical organization upon which theinvention is in its actual development predicated.

As the conveyor advances the balls a are set by an attendant in groupsof three in the successive troughs 2. This is done near the right-handend of the upper reach of the conveyor 1, as seen in Fig. I. And as theballs advance in their troughs towardthe left-hand end of the upperreach of the conveyor they are branded. The troughs are of such shapeand dimensions and are formed of such material that the balls (of rubberand feltcoated) are seated firmly and retained in the precise positionsin which the attendant has placed them, as they advance to and are actedon by the branding instrumentalities; and they are, over their uppersurfaces, exposed, to be acted on by the branding instrumentalities.

The branding instrumentalities include a vertically reciprocating head 9having its nether surface shaped for cooperation with the row ofspherical balls and equipped, in this instance, with a heating element10, adapted in its reciprocation to descend upon a row of balls horne'bythe conveyor and by pressure, together with heat, to transfer a legendor other device laid in suitable ink, from a carrier or carriers offlexible sheet material interposed between the balls and the head, tothe surfaces of the balls. The reciprocation of the head 9 is effectedthrough 'a' cam-wheel-ll driven by motor 3, and conveyor travel and headreciprocation are so correlated that the head descends upon the ballswhen the balls sustained bythe conveyor are at rest. And it will beunderstood that, at the point in its course where itsustains the thrustof this head, the conveyor itself is suitably supported from beneath.Inthis instance two reciprocating heads 9 are shown. spaced apart alongthe upper horizontal reach of the conveyor; and it will beunderstoodsthat this is a provision for branding each ball twice. Tosuch end, each ball is, in the course of advance from one brandingmechanism to the next, raised by an attendant, turned, and seated againin its trough, with a fresh area of its surface uppermost, to receivethe second brand.

Strips d of flexible material (ordinarily paper) are preliminarilyprepared, bearing each in repetition and at regularly and suitablyspaced intervals a legend or device laid in suitable ink. Paper and inkare such that under pressure (and heat) the ink in substantial andsuflicient quantity is transferred from the paper and permanentlyapplied to the surface of the felt-covered ball. Preferably, inassociation with each reciprocating head three strips of paperareprovided; and ordinarily the legend borne by the strips of one set ofthree is different from the legend of the other set of strips, Forexample, in'the machine shown in which two reciprocating heads 9 arepresent, one set of strips bears the manufacturers name and the otherset bears the legend Championship. Each strip advances from a stock reel12, over guide rollers 13, 14, and 15, and thence over a positively andcontinuously driven feed roller 16, and in this course it is guided inhorizontal plane immediately above one of the balls 0, at the pointwhere the ball comes to rest beneath the head 9, as is most plainlyindicated in Fig. V. Engagement'with the feed roller 16 is frictional,and the strip is alternately drawn forward in consequence of suchtension and (resistance increasing) it slips upon the roller which thencontinues to turn beneath it.

Cooperating with the strip d (and, for simplicity, it will sufllce inwhat follows to speak of a single strip: it will be understood that theapparatus is elaborated, to deal with a multiplicity of identicalstrips) and on the delivery side of the reciprocating head 9 means areprovided for drawing the strip d forward beneath the head 9 through anaccurately measured interval of feed (the precise interval at which thelegends succeed one another in their placement upon the strip) duringthe time when the head is raised, and for insuring quiescence fromtravel during the time of engagement of the head with the strip. esemeans include a beam 17, reciprocable transversely of the general lineof strip is trained beneath the rollers 18 and over the edge of bar 17;and the bar 17 is linked with the head 9, so that, as head 9 rises, theshifting bar develops a bight in the strip, and as the head descends thestrip responds to tension and the previously developed bight disappears.A makeand-break device whose position is indicated at 21 is, by thedriving connections indicated, caused to operate in synchronism with theheadreciprocating means (all being driven from motor 3), to the endthat, as the head rises (the eleetro-magnet on the right beingde-energized) the electro-magnet 20 on the left (Fig. V1) is energized;and, as the head descends, it is the magnet on the right, which isenergized while the companion magnet on the left is de-energized.Accordingly, as the head rises the strip d is clamped by roller 18 onthe left to the beam 17 and the simultaneous rising of the beam drawsthe strip from the reel 12 and along its path beneath the head, the pathdefined by rollers 13 and 14; and the distance through which the.

strip is thus drawn forward is precisely the interval at which thelegends succeed one another on the strip. When the head descends, it isthe roller 18 on the right which clamps the strip to the beam 17 and(the strip being thus held firm against advance beneath the head, asbeam 17 descends) the slack is taken up by the frictional pull of roller16 upon the strip.

The rise and descent of beam 17 in synchronism with head 9 are effectedby mounting, the beam on vertically swinging arms 24, pivoted at 25, andarticulating the arms with bars 26 between which the head 9 is carried.

Additional means are provided for affording suilicient slack to allowthe strip to shape itself to the spherical ball beneath thecorrespondingly shaped face of the descending head. To that end theroller 14 on the delivery side of the recpirocating head is mounted onarms 21 and yieldingly held, as by a spring 22, in the full-lineposition of Fig. V. The descending head, as it engages the strip d,engages also an arm 23, which is integral with arm 21, and inconsequence of such engagement'shifts the roller 14 gradually as itdescends from the full-line to the dottedline position. The slack sodeveloped is sufficient to allow the strip to respond and shape itselfbetween the approaching surfaces of head and ball.

Provision is found for easing the tension upon the strip, to allowpassage of a splice through the clamping apparatus 17, 18, 18, suchprovision consisting inv a mounting of a roller 36 (over which the stripis bent in its advance to the clamping apparatus) in such manner that,by the turning of a crank 27, the roller may be shifted transversely ofthe path of strip travel.

The present invention has to do with such a machine as that which hasbeen described, and, specifically, the object of invention is toovercomecertain diiilcultiesdiiilculties which tend to prevent accurateplacement of the brands upon the balls. These difficulties are due inpart to an inevitable variability in the character of the materials usedand in part to the uncertainty involved in feeding the machine by hand.

The strips of paper d which carry the brands until they are transferredto the balls are inevitably responsive to atmospheric conditions,

particularly in that as the degree of humidity of the atmosphere variesthe strips vary in length; and variation in the lengths of the stripsmeans variation in the interval at which the brands borne by the stripssucceed one another. This variation is, under normal variations inhumidity, so slight as between two brands as to be utterly negligible;but in the operation of the machine the variation is cumulative and thusbecomes important and may involve a serious disturbance in machineoperation. Ofthat disturbance the invention affords corrective.

The bars 24 which carry the beam 17 are, as has been noted, pivoted at25 in the frame of the machine. The pivot 25 is by this invention madeadjustable vertically, and means are provided for making minuteadjustment manually. The pivot 25 is carried by a bolt 28 and the boltis positioned in an eye 29 formed in the frame of the machine by awing-nut 30 and an oppositely-effective spring 31. By turning the nut 30the attendant may shift the location of pivot 25, vary the throw of beam17, and thus make minute compensation for variations in the spacing ofthe strip-borne brands. A gauge is provided, by means of which theattendant may detect variationin brand spacing, and determine accuratelythe proper degree of correction. This gauge consists of a window 32carried by the frame of the machine and so set that, adjacent the placewhere transfer is effected, the strip (or strips) is visible through it.The attendant, sighting through window 32, observes, as machineoperation progresses, slight deviation in the strips from true position,turns one and another of nuts 30 accordingly, and thus makes correctionand. compensation. In the drawings the win-' dow is shown convenientlyplaced on the delivery side of the transfer means. The removal of thebrand from the strip and the application of it to the ball will be in nocase so complete, but that a trace will still remain on the strip and atrace sufiicient for detection through the window for the purposesdescribed.

Explanation has been made above that an attendant places the balls a ingroups of three in the troughs 2 as the conveyor advances from right toleft in its horizontal upper range, and that the balls so placed advanceto and are acted upon by the branding means. Tennis balls are covered bytwo duplicate, round-ended, narrow-waisted strips, and the seams formedat the meeting lines of the strips lie in symmetrical pattern upon thefinished ball. It is important that the brands laid upon the balls shallbe accurately placed with respect to these seams, and, accordingly, eachball must be set in its trough with precisely the right point in itssurface uppermost and its seams accurately oriented, and this, donenecessarily by hand, is difficult to do. I provide a guide and gauge atthis point, by the use of which manual placement of the balls isfacilitated, and theirorientation is made possible-with such accuracythat defect on this account may be substantially eliminated.

Circumstances forbid or render inadvisable a corporeal, structural gaugemember with which the ball comes" into contact. I have provided a lightsource 33, arranged above conveyor- 1, and a. grid 34, arranged betweenlight source and conveyor. These parts areconvenien'tly arrangedthe-shadow is minutely so positioned that by it as a gauge the attendantmay with facility set and orient the ball with utrnost accuracy. In

Fig. IV I show diagrammatically shadows s as cast by a set of grids 34upon balls a set in troughs 2 of the conveyor; and in the enlargeddiagram which accompanies Fig. IV it will be perceived with whataccuracy the ball a may be set, and how its seam lines may readily beoriented to the shadow s.

The hood with its contained parts will be so spaced above the conveyoras at once to cast sharply defined shadows and as to afford theattendant unobstructed view of and free access to the conveyor.

In Fig. I a single shadow-casting gauge is shown, associated with thefirst of the two sets of branding instrumentalities. It is entirelypracticable, and in some cases it may be altogether desirable, toprovide a second shadowcasting gauge in association with the second setof branding instrumentalities; in the actual installation of the machinewhich is being described one shadow-casting gauge has,however,vsufficed. The intervals of space and time within which theballs, after passing the first set of branding instrumentalities, may beraised from, turned, and replaced in the troughs of the conveyor aregreater than those available for the initial placement, and, as happens,are sufficient for accuracy, without the aid of a gauge.

I claim as my invention:

1. In branding apparatus a branding press, means for advancing asuccession of articles to the press, means for sustaining abrand-bearing strip with a portion thereof extending through the press,means for developing periodically and in synchronism with the operationof the articleadvancing means a bight in such strip and in so doingcausing the strip to advance through the press, and means for varyingthe effective range of such bight-developing means.

2. In branding apparatus a branding press, means for advancing asuccession of articles to the press, means for sustaining abrand-bearing strip with a portion thereof extending through vthe press,means for developing periodically and in synchronism with the operationof the articleadvancing means a bight in such strip and in so doingcausing the strip to advance through the press, and manually operablemeans for varying the effective range of such bight-developing means.

3. In branding apparatus a branding press, a conveyor associated withthe press and adapted to receive a succession of articles to be branded,means for casting upon the conveyor a positiondefining shadow for theplacement of articles upon the conveyor, means for advancing to thepress in synchronism with the advance of the conveyor a strip bearing asuccession, of brands, and means for adjusting minutely thestrip-advancing means relatively to conveyor advance.

4. In apparatus for duplicate operation upon a succession of articlesand in combination with the operation-performing means, a conveyorleading thereto, and means for casting upon the conveyor aposition-defining shadow for the placement of articles thereon.

5. In branding apparatus and in combination with a branding-press of aconveyor leading to the press, and means arranged at an interval abovethe conveyor for casting downward upon the conveyor a position-definingshadow for the placement of articles thereon.

WALTER E. HUMPHREY.

